One of the more important names in the early years of the California wine industry, Agoston Haraszthy (1812-1869) was one of the prime movers in the development of commercial winegrowing. In 1864, eight years after Haraszthy purchased the “Old Kelsey Ranch” located some two miles northeast of the Sonoma Plaza, Harper’s Magazine published an extensive article titled “Wine-Making in California” featuring Haraszthy and his Buena Vista enterprise.* The pages are overflowing with early California wine data, painting a detailed picture not often seen. On the six-thousand-acre wine estate, four hundred acres were planted in vines, 260 of them with Mission grapes, and another 140 acres with imports from all wine-growing districts of Europe. Of the 290,000 vines, 1300 were planted in 1832; 6700 in 1854; 13,000 in 1857; 34,000 in 1858; another 30,000 in 1859; 70,000 in 1860; and 135,000 in 1861. Planted eight feet apart, the vines allowed a two-horse plow to easily pass between them. The thirty-one-year-old vines (planted 1832) are “healthy, and bear the most abundantly.” They were planted by an Indian called Viviano, a Native American homesteader who was baptized at the nearby Sonoma Mission, and established a six-acre vineyard on his 176-acre land grant known as Rancho Lac. His vineyard is recognized as the first privately owned vineyard in the Sonoma Valley, and was evident when Haraszthy purchased the property in 1856 and renamed it Buena Vista. At the time, there were but 7900 vines growing on the estate, and only on spots that could be irrigated during the summer months. It was universally believed that all vineyards needed watering until Agoston Haraszthy arrived and immediately planted 13,000 vines; but instead of irrigation, he tended his vines using the plow to stir and loosen the soil. To the amazement of most, his vineyards flourished, and his grapes were excellent. Land in the neighborhood soared from $6 to $130 the acre.
*This article was later attributed to Haraszthy’s son Arpad, who became a leading figure in California’s wine scene.
Buena Vista Vineyard, Sonoma – c1900
This extremely early and rare postcard view of a building lettered BUENA VISTA VINEYARD might very well be one of the buildings shown in the fine engraved illustrations of Buena Vista in the 1864 Harper’s documentary article. It also has a wonderful wine country story: In April 1989, I wrote to Leon Adams, dean of American wine history (whose The Wines of America first came out in 1973, with several revised editions following), and with whom my husband and I were well-acquainted through the Society of Medical Friends of Wine in San Francisco. I asked him, “Maybe you can help me with a small mystery. Is this really Buena Vista in Sonoma?” and enclosed a photocopy of the postcard. He graciously soon replied: “Dear Gail, From my memory of my visits to the Buena Vista buildings from 1934 to 1989, during which decades I’ve seen the buildings altered, and the landscape altered, too, I can say this: I think the larger, closer building in the photoprint is the original Buena Vista winery building.”
Buena Vista Vineyards, California’s Oldest Winery, Press House, Built 1858
When “Count Haraszthy” (not a Count) left his native Hungary in 1840, he took a circuitous route to Sonoma. His travels took him first to Wisconsin, where he stopped to found Haraszthy Town (Sauk City) before going to San Diego to become a sheriff and vineyardist. He was then a nurseryman and assayer in San Francisco and a grape grower in San Mateo Co. before he finally settled in Sonoma Valley in 1856 and purchased Buena Vista. With astonishing confidence and energy, he set out to transform the land. In a few years, he built stone wine cellars, dug tunnels for aging wines, built a Palladian-style villa, and planted over three hundred acres of grape vines. In 1863, he received financial backing for further expansion from a group of investors and formed the Buena Vista Vinicultural Society. Yet, three years later, financial woes took it all, and he was gone from Buena Vista. In 1869, during a survey trip in Nicaragua to look into establishing a rum production facility on a sugar plantation, Haraszthy disappeared while trying to cross an alligator-infested stream. This dynamic vintner became a legend — and left a legacy in these magnificent stone cellars. (The postcard is postmarked 1959, but the view is much earlier.)
Historic Haraszthy Wine Cellars, Sonoma – 1960
“Wine History was Made Here,” exclaims the boldly printed plaque on the cellar wall as you enter the historic Buena Vista winery for a taste and a tour featuring its colorful history. Early in 1858, Haraszthy had a wine aging tunnel dug thirteen feet wide and 100 feet into the rocky hillside behind the winery. Since the worthy tunnel had been dug in barely six weeks’ time by just three Chinese workmen, the next year he added another tunnel, twice the size, adjoining the original one. A stone press house was constructed at the entrance to the tunnels. Haraszthy employed a large number of Chinese workers, both in the cellars and in the vineyards. Cabins were built for them on the hillside to the north of the main buildings. At this time, the outbuildings were all cheap constructions, some of them old, but there were two bath houses, a dwelling house, stables, and a brandy distillery. (See scene, first postcard.) That autumn, a vintage of 6,500 gallons was produced from the Mission grape vineyard. Notably, in 1858, Colonel Haraszthy* wrote an eighteen-page report that appeared in the first Report of the California State Agricultural Society covering the “early history of California wine-culture, the mode of cultivating the grape-vine and the making of wine,” one of the first articles written in California on the newly emerging wine industry. He also began a campaign to upgrade the varieties of grapes being planted in the state.
*Familiarly addressed as Colonel in California, the title was a “gentleman’s courtesy” rather than a reflection of military rank.
Oak Oval Casks Of Fine Wine In Historic Buena Vista Cellars – c1960
In 1861, Agoston Haraszthy and his son Arpad went on a four-month tour throughout Europe to observe the vineyards and winemaking practices that made European wine regions famous, and ordered several thousand cuttings from renowned vineyards. Arriving back in San Francisco, he began work on his Grape Culture, Wines and Wine-Making. With Notes Upon Agriculture and Horticulture, to be published the next year. Haraszthy had been appointed by Gov. Downey in 1861 as “Commissioner on the Improvement and Growth of the Grape-vine in California.” Consequently, in addition to an exhaustive report on his European travels, Haraszthy’s time-honored classic includes a chapter on wine-growing in California. The earliest book on California wine, it played a major role in the early history of winemaking in America. In 1864, a larger, three-story, beautiful stone building, originally planned as a Champagne cellar, was erected. It is noted on the postcard that many of these giant casks were older than the winery itself, and the underground wine cellars were favorites of their wine-country visitors, as there were very few in existence at the time. Visible in the background beyond the massive support post and hand-carved beams is the arched entrance to one of the underground tunnels.
Buena Vista Castle, Sonoma, Robert And Kate Johnson, Built 1883
By 1879, Agoston Haraszthy’s Buena Vista wine empire and 600-acre vineyard were only a shell. The glorious mansion was destroyed by fire in the late 1870s, and the vineyard was devastated by phylloxera. To satisfy creditors, BVViticultural Society trustee Robert C. Johnson and his wife Kate, wealthy high-society San Franciscans, purchased the 2800-acre estate. The Johnsons had no interest in producing wines at Buena Vista and used the wine cellars as carriage houses. Within four years, winemaking had ceased, and the vineyard had been converted into formal lawns and landscaped gardens. In 1883, near the earlier site of Haraszthy’s “Villa,” the Johnsons built their forty-room Victorian country manor with a five-story tower, where “the view from the tower is one of the finest in a valley celebrated for its views,” reported wine writer Frona Wait in 1889. Following the deaths of the Johnsons, the estate was subdivided and sold in 1905. Henry Cailleaud and his wife, another wealthy San Francisco couple, acquired most of the property, including the old winery buildings. The “Castle,” later acquired by the State of California for use as a “home for wayward girls,” served this purpose until 1923, when a fire — it is said set by the inmates themselves — totally destroyed the magnificent old building.
Entrance To Buena Vista Vineyard, Sonoma – c1950
Col. Haraszthy’s historic wine estate received new life in 1943, the year Frank Bartholomew and his wife Antonia acquired the property, now some four hundred acres. Bart, a war correspondent at the time, was overseas, and it fell upon Antonia to begin a new era of winemaking at Buena Vista. She called in Professor Winkler from U.C. Davis to advise on the restoration of the vineyards. The wine cellars were badly damaged in the 1906 earthquake, and the tunnels were impassable and lay abandoned. Gradually, the buildings were repaired, and new vines replaced the darkened stumps. With their first vintage in 1949, a restored Buena Vista was opened to the public. During the next twenty-five years, Buena Vista made prize-winning wines, and by the late 1960s, the tasting facility was enlarged into the old winery. It is a beautiful entrance-way pictured above, the plaque announcing Bartholomew, and the drive leading to the winery. The Bartholomews spent much time at their country home, entertaining friends from far and wide, and retired there. After Bart’s death in 1985 at eighty-six, Antonia spent the last few years of her life completing a reconstruction of Haraszthy’s villa. Bartholomew Park, surrounding the villa site and located across a small creek separating the winery grounds from the villa, is a breathtakingly beautiful tribute.
In The Underground Tasting Room At Buena Vista – 1950s
When this postcard was issued almost one-hundred years after the founding of Buena Vista, the painstaking work of the Bartholomews to revive Buena Vista was mainly complete. This vintage 1952 postcard and its message recall a remarkable sample of Buena Vista tasting room lore: “Here we are in Sonoma. Al took us over to the winery that he has charge of. That is him pouring the gal a drink. His is the oldest winery in California and has quite a history.” In the 1950s, Mike Bertolucci was the manager of the winery, so probably Al was in charge of the Tasting Room. A favorite and special postcard that is rarely seen, let alone bearing a message so pertinent to the winery visit, and this specific tasting room scene.
“The Vintner’s Creed” Decorates An Ancient Wine Cask, Buena Vista Winery – c1960
“Back of this Wine is the Vintner. And back through the years his Skill,
And back of it all are the Vines in the Sun, And the Rain, And the Master’s Will.”
The final chapter of our Buena Vista story began in 2011 when Jean-Charles Boisset, an enterprising French vintner, purchased the historic winery and brought it under the umbrella of the Boisset Family Estates, a collection of twenty-eight wine estates in California, France, and Canada. Boisset undertook major renovations and repairs to the property, which had been closed since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The historic cellars were restored, and wine production and tourism returned to the original cellars in 2015. For over a decade, the charming, excitingly flamboyant Boisset provided a special treat for all visitors — “Count Agoston Haraszthy” himself. Actor and historian George Webber portrayed the founder of Buena Vista, bringing the Hungarian aristocrat to life, dressed in top hat and tails, with performances reenacting the Count’s real history and his flair for melodrama. Webber traveled nationally as the “Count of Buena Vista” representing the winery and leading educational wine tastings. Very similar to the beloved “Lil Old Winemaker, Me!” of Italian Swiss Colony fame at Asti in the 1960s.
References
Adams, Leon. The Wines of America 1973.
Harper’s New Monthly Magazine”, NYC.1864. pp.23-24.
Peninou, E. & Unzelman, G. History of the Sonoma Viticultural District.1998. Sullivan, Charles. Companion to California Wine. 1998.
Unzelman, Gail. Sonoma County Wineries. 2006.
Further Reading
McGinty, Brian. Strong Wine. Life and Legend of Agoston Haraszthy. 1998.
McGinty, Brian. A Toast to Eclipse. Arpad Haraszthy and the Sparkling Wine of Old San Francisco. 2012.
(These two biographies of Agoston and Arpad Haraszthy were written by the great-great-grandson of Agoston.
Superbly researched and written, they are the definitive histories of these wine pioneers.)
Sullivan, Charles. Sonoma Wine and the Story of Buena Vista. 2013.
From The Archives:
Agoston Haraszthy, Buena Vista Ranch, Label. Port 1859
